Another New Species

I always get excited when a new species appears in my yard especially one as interesting as this. There are several different sub-species of Kingsnakes, so named for their ability to kill and eat other snakes, including venomous ones. Our yard happens to fall right on the boundary where the sub-species changes from the California Kingsnake to the Desert Kingsnake and this individual shows characteristics of both. This is not unusual were the range of the two sub-species meet. This particular individual was just slithering out of our pool having taken a cooling dip when I managed to catch a photo.

One More - Sunday Desert Blooms

How could I have been so remiss? A series of blooms without including the Saguaro? Silly me. It is not easy when most of the blooms are twenty to thirty feet up in the air but 'when there is a will, there is a way.' So here it is, for real this time, the final image in the Sunday Bloom series.

Every Day is Different

Dawn is such a perfect moment and every day it throws in something different, on this morning, a magical lilac sky.

Sunday Desert Blooms - Part Seven

The last one in the series as most of the blooms are gone now. This is the Chenille Prickly Pear, one of the most prodigious producers of blooms.

Softness

So many of the organisms that I post on this blog are spiky, spiny or venomous so it makes a nice change to be able to capture one of the gentler characters occasionally. The Desert Cottontail.  

Sunday Desert Blooms - Part Six

Another variation of Cholla, this time with sunshine yellow blossoms lighting up an otherwise inconspicuous plant.

The Big Reveal

As with pretty much everything in the desert, it is very spikey

All the way down to the tips of its toes

It is a rather sleepy Desert Spiny Lizard, lounging in the afternoon sun.

Sunday Desert Blooms - Part Five

Another Hedgehog Cacti, this one is more delicate than some of it's more brash neighbours but no less stunning.